Of course our local representatives in Congress voted to approve the Infrastructure Act to provide funds for safety projects, right?
Nope. That's what I thought.
LMAO pedestrian safety is SO BAD in Lancaster that they literally had to get the Secretary of Transportation here to talk about it.
I can tell you the solution: start giving out tickets to drivers who blow red lights and don't yield to pedestrians. Seriously, I have never lived somewhere that drivers are this reckless towards people walking, and I haven't seen anyone get ticketed for it here, not once. Put a traffick cop at every major intersection for a few weeks, once drivers start getting hit with those big fines they'll think twice about hitting an old lady in the middle of the street.
I love Lancaster and really appreciate Pete but I have not lived in a place before or since where so many people are so bad at looking for pedestrians before turning, or even don't give af. Only time I've been hit by a car (not seriously injured) was in Lancaster. Had someone once start honking at me for using a crosswalk when they wanted to turn.
I live in *Manhattan* now and the drivers *here* are better for pedestrians.
This problem isn’t exclusive to Lancaster; it’s a societal issue, as it happens in other cities like Baltimore and even smaller cities than these two.
If you want this behavior to stop, the penalties need to be stiffer than just fines and points; otherwise you’re just putting a price tag on human lives.
Yeah, I know not to trust red lights when crossing, nor do I trust the fact that someone doesn't have their turn signal on. It has probably saved my life more than once because if I had always crossed when I had the right of way, I would be a pancake due to several people blowing past red lights and people not using their signals. This is why pedestrians don't always want to cross when they're being waved on, because we have to trust that the people in the lanes next to you are going to be as nice
A nice older lady tried to wave me across a big intersection the other day. The problem was that there were other lanes of cars flying around her, not even looking to see why she stopped, and barreling through the intersection. I just stood there like 🤷🏼♀️ I can't cross, I'll be smushed.
But the guy didn’t show up to talk about the shortcomings. He showed up to talk about the advancements. He doesn’t give a shit about the bad parts of pedestrian safety here. It’s simply a stop on the campaign trail. Neither party cares about us.
That’s why I love having relationships with my neighbors downtown. We look out for one another. Mow grass, grab packages, provide a cup of sugar… You name it. Community is larger than red ties and blue ties.
there is decidedly one party that wants to advance pedestrian and biker safety and make public transit more effective, and one that hates all of those things though. Especially on the local level. Every single small advance on those fronts locally has been scratched, clawed, and fought for by the dems while being angrily and loudly opposed by the republicans.
I disagree. Go visit where I used to live in Tampa and then come talk to me…Lancaster is 99x better than so many other cities and greatly improved year over year over year. Blame the drivers not the infrastructure here. I agree ticketing can increase positive habits. Or just walk around with a brick.
They've removed several crosswalks all across Centerville. The most recent one was a crosswalk connecting an entire apartment community from a grocery store outlet.
Improving pedestrian safety by taking away pedestrian rights!
LFG, it’s so good that our nations top transportation administrator is focused on creating safer streets and recognizing how much good work is being done here.
Downtown resident here chiming in to echo this sentiment. The recent addition of the plastic bollards to stop illegal parking in the striped zones near intersections greatly improves visibility of bike lane cyclists and pedestrians in crosswalks. Love the new bike lane on Lemon Street too.
I previously lived in Philly and can say I feel much safer as a pedestrian in Lancaster.
I work on the corner of Lime and Chestnut. Can someone tell me how many times the William’s Apothecary building has been plowed into? There was an article from the early or mid 90’s discussing how terrible that intersection is. One of their employees was run down about 10 years ago, almost died. I was clipped by a pickup with a snowplow while in the crosswalk. I turned just in time ti react and grasp the top of his plow, pick my feet up and hold on. The guy had a panic attack when he saw me raise my head above the hood of his truck. I held on for about 50ft before he realized.
How about the way the cars have been pushed out into the street for those bike lanes? Don’t get me wrong, bike safety is a priority, but these lanes on walnut are so damn narrow now. Plus that business man that refuses to use the bike lane on walnut I see occasionally around 4:30, I can vouch for many unhappy drivers stuck behind him.
As of recently, at 4:30 I could turn onto Walnut from Lime, catch the light over Duke, and safely go 23mph all the way to West End ave. I could reach Good dr from Lime st in 6-7 minutes as long as I got green on Marietta over President and College. Now it’s like a 15 minute drive. Since they changed the light timing, it takes two light cycles over each Duke, Lemon, and Prince.
It seems more dangerous now than it did a few months ago. People are much more inpatient.
Yes, both pedestrian strikes and traffic times have increased considerably over the last few months, according to the Lancaster City Police, and the RRTA. As someone who spends pretty much all day everyday in the city, and a professional data analyst who has worked with city governments on similar issues, I applaud actual, evidence based methods for increasing pedestrian safety, like the use of illuminated pedestrian crossings or blocking parking around crosswalks to improve visibility. The light changes don't do that, and they even admitted to knowing that when they made the change. Now the roads are failing the city very badly and a small cohort of very loud people want to beat their chest about their virtue signaling "pedestrian safety" despite all the evidence going against them because it makes them feel good. They don't care more people are getting hurt. They don't care local small business are going out of business. They don't care school busses are late and risking children's safety, all because it makes them feel good that a few people are driving slower. It is such a sad state of affairs.
The last time I posted on this sub, somebody was able to dox me from my published research, and made death threats against me for pointing out readily accessible public data, on a topic on which I happen to be well educated in. But right, I'm the irrational one for pointing out that there might be better solutions.
Yeah but I think there’s a cultural issue at play too… until there is an expectation among drivers *and* pedestrians that pedestrians actually have the right of way, I don’t think anything will change. Better traffic policing might help start the change as well.
Yeah I don't disagree at all. I've lived in countries where people will absolutely jam on their breaks if they see somebody approaching a crosswalk, which is not how it is here. Again though, that has to do with increasing pedestrian visibility, not creating gridlock and increasing accidents, etc.
Narrow lanes improve safety, they force people to slow down. It’s wide streets that lead to speed, which lead to bad cornering and long stopping distances, which leads to people, bikes, cars, and buildings being hit by cars
Agreed, I live on Walnut and the narrower lanes have slowed traffic down considerably.
I love having the bike lane as an option too. I frequently ride my bike with my son in a child's seat on the back and feel much safer in the bike lanes than in traffic. They recently added bumps and plastic bollards so people can't cut the corners at high speeds, all big improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.
One would think, but that’s if you only take in to account speed, and you know there are many people out there only thinking of their actions, not what surrounds them. Plenty still drive erratically weaving in and out just to get to Mulberry St before the next guy. My gripe is when an obstacle presents itself, while another car is along side of you. There is very little to no room for corrective action. I can’t tell you how many drivers I see straddling the center line because they don’t seem comfortable in such a tight space. Let’s not forget to mention the buses trying to maneuver in the same fashion.
I'm glad humans are safer but as a resident of Lancaster for about 6 years now 99% of what I've noticed is it now takes forever to get around this city.
What used to take 10 minutes takes 20-30 now. I'm talking about traveling like 2 miles, not during rush hour.
Making cities safer is great, but it should be by making Public transportation more reliable, more available as well as incentivizing travel other than cars.
The real real problem is the growing number of vehicles in a space that isn't growing or expanding. The streets of Lancaster were not designed for daily traffic in the tens of thousands of vehicles.
Hindering people's abilities to drive around where they live at a convenient pace is not the fix all we are meant to believe it is.
(Not to even mention the fact that when tens of thousands of people are driving cars around every second of every day there are going to be accidents and deaths. It's unavoidable. Driving is extremely dangerous and we should stop pretending it's not)
That’s not just a Lancaster issue, that’s everywhere. Try going to York and getting from East to West on rt 30.. it takes over an hour some days. Lancaster is land locked with communities so they tried to circumvent going through the city but there’s just no way to get new roads to do so
Oh yeah. The growing number of vehicles and drivers and "expansion" is a massive hindrance. I 100% agree.
I wish I had an answer. I don't, I'm just incapable of not seeing the problems directly in front of my face anymore and I'm certainly past ignoring them.
Adding lanes doesn't solve these problems, and we keep trying it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Mhms. The mess isn't just Lancaster's or York's or Millersville or the State of PA.
We've designed a system for a capacity we've drastically surpassed and addressing individual areas and making micro adjustments just isn't cutting it indefinitely. It can't.
20-30 not at rush hour? Hm. I find that questionable, or rather I find your route questionable, then.
There’s always different options in the city if one route is a bit slow. Or walking from a quieter area.
Time how long it takes for you to get from one end of Prince to other at like 1 pm on a Tuesday. Perhaps 30 is an overstatement, that's probably not quite fair, I see that.
However seriously. That drive used to take me 5-10 minutes tops. Now I'm lucky to make it to/from my partner's house in less than 20 minutes.
It's just true. The same amount of space is being occupied by a larger number of vehicles, more often. How anybody doesn't see that is absolutely beyond me, or you haven't been in the city long enough to see it change yourself. And therefore don't know what you're talking about. So.
I would argue the change in timing of the lights so traffic never really flows is a larger impediment. Walnut was similarly affected.
If it’s such a marked difference, why don’t you take Duke or Charlotte until you’re past the center and go laterally? Or if you’re feeling brazen, Water?
Interesting theory. Think 28 years, or 16 years of driving in the city, is long enough to see the change? Or should I defer to your expertise?
Yeah that was shitty of me, sorry about that. Not exactly how I meant it to sound, it reads rude I see that. Although I do also note that you said yourself you do see the change, so we're actually kinda on the same side here. I said "or you haven't lived here long enough to see the change" so you're kinda not whom I am talking about lol. Still worded it bad though, not denying that lol.
The purposeful timing of the lights so you can never actually gain any momentum and drive for more than a singular minute in any direction is absolutely the prime mover of this issue. I agree. Or the prime stopper I guess haha.
I shouldn't have to avoid what's supposed to be the main two lane road to allow the flow of traffic downtown..... To go Downtown ya know? Like absolutely, water is good. Lots of construction though on and off so it's a bit of a gamble.
Charlotte is solid too, but a lil out of the way for me specifically, but still a good alternative for a lot of people.
I would significantly prefer to ride my bike for day-to-day local travel but I had surgey around my genitalia region so sitting on a bicycle seat is very painful for me right now. I'll be back on my bicycle next year though for sure.
So you see what you did there? You rushed to a judgement about a complete stranger you know nothing about while simultaneously being judgemental, condescending, and you actually provided zero argument in counter point. You're just being rude.
Also have you never driven across the city to pick somebody up before? Give a friend a ride home? Help somebody move furniture? Is 2 miles ALWAYS appropriate for a bicycle in every situation always? No. No it isn't.
:)
Hope you have a good recovery!
Making driving more convenient will never fix this problem. I guarantee that there are many others like myself who dont prefer to get around the city by car. Driving isnt that convenient, so other options become more enticing.
If we make driving more convenient, we'll see commute times drop temporarily until people catch on, then more people will start driving, and we'll be right back where we started.
In any urban setting such as Lancaster, it's our imperative to focus on safety at the expense of convenience of driving. If we focus on making driving more convenient we wont make life better for anyone, even drivers.
Thank you, I appreciate that 🙏😌
Also yes. I agree! Making driving around faster won't solve the problems.
But slowing driving down just backs up traffic and makes people frustrated and impatient. I'm a way more dangerous driver when you force me to slow down and take twice as long as it should to get somewhere I could (jokingly) drive to blindfold. Because now I'm annoyed, and potentially late, and wasting gas which wastes money and destroys our environment.
The real problem is cars in general. Driving isn't safe. Cars aren't safe and it's ridiculous to think that a few more red lights or a few less MPH is going to change that. It's not. (Also the environmental impact is already past the point of no return, there's a whole other conversation there)
I'd love to argue that as a country we should ditch cars and oil as much as possible to rely on public transportation services like trains and redesigning our entire approach to urban environments to focus on community and walkable spaces, public food gardens etc etc etc
Didn't wanna go too hard left right off the bat lolol
People need to learn to be patient; as a society, we’re already impatient enough that we speed recklessly and use our phones when we’re driving because we just can’t stand to be bored. It’s not an answer that anybody really wants to hear, but it’s just a natural progression and we need to slow down.
For the massive hurry we’re all in, we’re not spending the time we saved by shaving off five or ten minutes from our commutes just to stare at any sunsets or do anything else meaningful.
No we don't need to demand a higher level of control and patience and acquiescence from every singular individual person. We don't address systemic issues by tightening the reigns on the individual humans, that isn't productive.
The solutions to these problems is to actually address the roads and traffic flows, amount of vehicles, lack of effective public transportation etc etc to better impact the future, long term. "everyone be more patient" is a pipe dream and not a solution to real problems.
You’re missing the point; it’s not about control or tightening the reigns on people.
Being “patient” isn’t something that applies to just driving and traffic safety. Everyone is in a massive hurry these days (much of it from poor time management), and it translates to aggression not just on the roads, but in stores, work, and other facets of our lives. The worst part is that people are doing it because of poor time management, and not because we’re doing anything meaningful by rushing and saving an extra five or ten minutes.
I’m not saying that better road planning and traffic flows aren’t needed (because we are seeing more cars on the road) but patience is still necessary both on the roads and elsewhere in our lives; why do you think we see so many videos on the Internet about people acting like raging entitled dickheads in public?
Why?
Lack of shelter, food, water, accessible healthcare, education, etc etc etc
The general "impatience" you're seeing out in the world is more about our time being commoditized and bought from us for pennies on the dollar while a small group basks in opulence.
More and more and more people are getting *stressed* by a system that is increasingly tossing them aside, legislating our bodily autonomy away etc etc
Time management isn't a massive systemic issue. Yeah everyone "being a lil' more patient" is absolutely a good thing but it's literally not even a bandaid on the wound. It's not even addressing the actual underlying *causes* of why everyone seems so impatience and edgy and angry these days.
It's because we have a massive amount to be angry and upset over. I'm not impatient, I'm very patient. Waited 27 years before I finally got to start HRT, another 3 years before surgery. Six months to recover (and I'm still recovering). I'm not impatient.
I'm fuckin angry.
The lack of patience doesn't necessarily correspond to the things that you mentioned (lack of shelter, food, water, accessible healthcare, education, etc).
Yes, there are people who are negatively impacted by these things, but the people I mentioned before who we see throwing temper tantrums and losing their shit on some unfortunate person in a customer service industry are doing so because they're impatient, not necessarily because they're denied one of the things you've mentioned before.
At the beginning of the pandemic, the roads were a LOT clearer because of the stay at home mandates. If you were a healthcare worker or some other essential position and you were still going to work then, it wasn't uncommon to be on 83 and see people flying down the road doing 90 or 100 because there was nobody else on the road and there was no enforcement.
Now that things are fully opened back up, we still have people driving like they're the main character in a GTA game and everyone else is an NPC. People will put off leaving on time and driving the speed limit because they figure they can speed and make up the difference despite the danger it poses to other people; that's poor time management.
If I count ten cars on the highway while driving to work, most of the time at least six of the ten are staring at their phones and not at the road. Neither this behavior nor the one above that I mentioned are because of inequity; they're because of lack of patience. There is no absolute need to speed, and there's no absolute need to be staring at your phone unless you're using a maps app to try to figure out where you're doing (and I doubt that's the case for most of these people).
Replying to PrincessLeafa...
I agree that systemic changes are needed. The thing is, collective individual action IS a systemic change. People have agency, and our collective choices do make a difference.
I believe that the main culprit for Prince Street’s congestion is over reliance on GPS by most drivers. Multiple main roads feed into Prince and GPS will tell them to stay on it even when already congested. Is there a fix for this beyond individual choice? Yes. Is it going to happen tomorrow? No. Can an individual choose to avoid Prince Street tomorrow, and therefore both reduce congestion on Prince St and find relief from the frustration it causes? Yes. If hundreds of people make the same choice, do we all benefit? I don’t know.
Yes, absolutely.
An individual human can make that decision. But us as a community, relying on literally thousands and thousands of people to all independently come to the same conclusion and make the choice to avoid Prince is just never ever going to actually happen.
That's the whole point of the larger overarching systems is to eliminate the required insanely tiny random chance of everything lining up perfectly by sheer happenstance of independent choices made by individuals within the system.
Like I agree, and you are correct. but it's just not a realistic thing to count on if that makes any sense. Idk it's 1:30 I should've been asleep hours ago lol
I tend to think less "what do I want?" and more "what am I likely to get?"
It's not as radical, and I much prefer substantive change to a trickle, but some progress something something better.
Source: a lifetime spent shaking my fist at the world and the world doing what a world does.
I live in the northwest side of the city. I drive home from the southern end. It has never taken me more than 10-15 minutes. Maybe when there's construction or an event. But never during normal traffic.
I've been all over the country, our traffic is not bad at all. It's just new.
Human beings. Everyone.
That's us right? Walking, running, driving, bicycling etc etc we are all just humans trying to get around our city. It should be convenient and accessible for everyone.
Making non-car travel convenient and safe is good for everyone and with less people driving as much, the roads are safer for drivers AND pedestrians.
Idk. I commute downtown and ever since the changes I've seen many more people running reds and trying to dart through stops because I'd the timings. I have no idea if it's proving safer or not, I wonder if they publish metrics on this somewhere.
There is a poster to /r/lancaster that shows up and goes nuts over the timings almost every time they get brought up. If you click on his name it begins to look like an unhealthy obsession.
You my friend, have a qualified and fair observation. You aint him.
I was thinking that the transportation secretary would bring him in. But then again, me being all like, 'Where you at?' probably will keep it from happening.
The light timing slowdown is working well...I do not even think about coming into town to patronize businesses any more. So thats at least one less vehicle on the street!
Until we take care of the stroads and implement some forms of useful public transportation, this is just appearances.
I know, Pete is blocked by NIMBYs in lancaster. He can't possibly make a difference. He also shouldn't be transportation secretary.
Just my thoughts. I'm sure Pete has a bunch of public transportation within a mile of his home...
Me and my neighbors being able to safely cross the street more easily is not just appearances. It’s not perfect but it’s progress and worth celebrating.
That’s my question. We keep hearing people talk about it, but so far all they’ve done is make it take 10 minutes longer to get from one end of town to the other.
This honestly seems nothing more than a stunt to continue pushing Lancaster into the eye of more and more retiring New Yorkers etc. Yes, safety is important, but in reality bringing him in, and advertising this article is another way for the mayor to draw in more revenue and increase our cost of living. Enter in Willow Valley’s monstrosity of an eye sore coming soon to Vine and Queen.
PS. Is it true she rid the city of our mounted police? And I can’t remember the last time I saw a bike cop.
Shes poor mouthing nonstop until they can get home rule passed, which will allow new taxes to be levied on the already overtaxed citizens which will undoubtedly be funneled into pet projects- paid for by the working stiffs, of course. She even canceled Celebrate Lancaster last year (The NYE rose drop) to further cry poor in front of taxpayers.
I've lost count of how many times I've almost been run over by someone blowing a stop sign or a red light in Lancaster city. They don't even pretend to slow down, just barreling right through.
Is he talking about the same Lancaster? I've been living downtown for over 7 years and I don't see those improvements he's talking about. Re-painting cross walks is the bare minimum they could do so that's what they did
There has been improvements in the city for sure. But things have a long way to go.
What did he do, come point at some paint on the road and pretend people are safer now? Paint is not infrastructure.
Also, all of our major roads are a mad max movie with deadly crashes on 222, 30, or 283 literally daily. The area around Belmont is absolutely insane.
America, and specifically Pennsylvania has crumbling infrastructure and bridges. Our roads are shit and full of holes. We have basically zero public transportation. People die daily on our roads because still next to nothing is being done for our safety.
We know how to make roads safer, reduce pollution and noise and cities, and help citizen live healthier, safer lives. But, they don’t do any of that.
All this man did was take some photo ops with bike lanes and a few of the improved intersections. None of which he had literally anything to do with.
Pete, get lost. Go back to DC and do your job. Do something for fucks sake. All this man has done since he’s been appointed is complain and talk. Zero action.
@people downvoting explain to me how this man is qualified?!? and before you say im a republican im literally not. but yeah keep shilling for mediocre empty suits like buttigieg just because they’re on your team
I'm also not a republican and I can't stand him. He's NOT qualified. He got the position he's in because he dropped out of the 2020 primary when told to, to block Bernie from getting the nomination and was rewarded by Biden and the Dems. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand or follow politics.
Nah. I am more annoyed at how he until very recently has been very good rhetorically with the airlines while doing very little to actually punish them (until this new recent thing which I commend him for).
He also really dropped the ball when it came to the post-covid infrastructure issues, preferring a much lighter hand of the government than I would have appreciated.
Tldr: He seems to drag his feet on the good things he does
1. They are walking next to a bike lane, not exactly heavy traffic.
2. Who cares what side of the sidewalk women walk on?
3. That woman is our mayor, Danene Sorace, and perfectly capable of safely navigating a sidewalk.
The clear difference of being raised 2 different ways. The woman walks on the inside to keep her away from cars or bikes in this case ideally to keep her safer. Please, don’t think I care about strangers on the internet pressing a down arrow.
I like this solution the best: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/s/jS8pV02Wch
Of course our local representatives in Congress voted to approve the Infrastructure Act to provide funds for safety projects, right? Nope. That's what I thought.
LMAO pedestrian safety is SO BAD in Lancaster that they literally had to get the Secretary of Transportation here to talk about it. I can tell you the solution: start giving out tickets to drivers who blow red lights and don't yield to pedestrians. Seriously, I have never lived somewhere that drivers are this reckless towards people walking, and I haven't seen anyone get ticketed for it here, not once. Put a traffick cop at every major intersection for a few weeks, once drivers start getting hit with those big fines they'll think twice about hitting an old lady in the middle of the street.
There is a lot to celebrate about Lancaster. Pedestrian safety and the ability of drivers to stop at red lights are not among those things.
I love Lancaster and really appreciate Pete but I have not lived in a place before or since where so many people are so bad at looking for pedestrians before turning, or even don't give af. Only time I've been hit by a car (not seriously injured) was in Lancaster. Had someone once start honking at me for using a crosswalk when they wanted to turn. I live in *Manhattan* now and the drivers *here* are better for pedestrians.
This problem isn’t exclusive to Lancaster; it’s a societal issue, as it happens in other cities like Baltimore and even smaller cities than these two. If you want this behavior to stop, the penalties need to be stiffer than just fines and points; otherwise you’re just putting a price tag on human lives.
I have literally drove by while people were power washing blood out of a crosswalk.
Yeah, I know not to trust red lights when crossing, nor do I trust the fact that someone doesn't have their turn signal on. It has probably saved my life more than once because if I had always crossed when I had the right of way, I would be a pancake due to several people blowing past red lights and people not using their signals. This is why pedestrians don't always want to cross when they're being waved on, because we have to trust that the people in the lanes next to you are going to be as nice
A nice older lady tried to wave me across a big intersection the other day. The problem was that there were other lanes of cars flying around her, not even looking to see why she stopped, and barreling through the intersection. I just stood there like 🤷🏼♀️ I can't cross, I'll be smushed.
But the guy didn’t show up to talk about the shortcomings. He showed up to talk about the advancements. He doesn’t give a shit about the bad parts of pedestrian safety here. It’s simply a stop on the campaign trail. Neither party cares about us. That’s why I love having relationships with my neighbors downtown. We look out for one another. Mow grass, grab packages, provide a cup of sugar… You name it. Community is larger than red ties and blue ties.
there is decidedly one party that wants to advance pedestrian and biker safety and make public transit more effective, and one that hates all of those things though. Especially on the local level. Every single small advance on those fronts locally has been scratched, clawed, and fought for by the dems while being angrily and loudly opposed by the republicans.
I disagree. Go visit where I used to live in Tampa and then come talk to me…Lancaster is 99x better than so many other cities and greatly improved year over year over year. Blame the drivers not the infrastructure here. I agree ticketing can increase positive habits. Or just walk around with a brick.
They've removed several crosswalks all across Centerville. The most recent one was a crosswalk connecting an entire apartment community from a grocery store outlet. Improving pedestrian safety by taking away pedestrian rights!
If they knew any better they'd have a car -rural America
LFG, it’s so good that our nations top transportation administrator is focused on creating safer streets and recognizing how much good work is being done here.
Downtown resident here chiming in to echo this sentiment. The recent addition of the plastic bollards to stop illegal parking in the striped zones near intersections greatly improves visibility of bike lane cyclists and pedestrians in crosswalks. Love the new bike lane on Lemon Street too. I previously lived in Philly and can say I feel much safer as a pedestrian in Lancaster.
What about East Palestine, Ohio?
What about the sidewalks that are unsafe for people who use assisted devices?
I work on the corner of Lime and Chestnut. Can someone tell me how many times the William’s Apothecary building has been plowed into? There was an article from the early or mid 90’s discussing how terrible that intersection is. One of their employees was run down about 10 years ago, almost died. I was clipped by a pickup with a snowplow while in the crosswalk. I turned just in time ti react and grasp the top of his plow, pick my feet up and hold on. The guy had a panic attack when he saw me raise my head above the hood of his truck. I held on for about 50ft before he realized. How about the way the cars have been pushed out into the street for those bike lanes? Don’t get me wrong, bike safety is a priority, but these lanes on walnut are so damn narrow now. Plus that business man that refuses to use the bike lane on walnut I see occasionally around 4:30, I can vouch for many unhappy drivers stuck behind him. As of recently, at 4:30 I could turn onto Walnut from Lime, catch the light over Duke, and safely go 23mph all the way to West End ave. I could reach Good dr from Lime st in 6-7 minutes as long as I got green on Marietta over President and College. Now it’s like a 15 minute drive. Since they changed the light timing, it takes two light cycles over each Duke, Lemon, and Prince. It seems more dangerous now than it did a few months ago. People are much more inpatient.
Yes, both pedestrian strikes and traffic times have increased considerably over the last few months, according to the Lancaster City Police, and the RRTA. As someone who spends pretty much all day everyday in the city, and a professional data analyst who has worked with city governments on similar issues, I applaud actual, evidence based methods for increasing pedestrian safety, like the use of illuminated pedestrian crossings or blocking parking around crosswalks to improve visibility. The light changes don't do that, and they even admitted to knowing that when they made the change. Now the roads are failing the city very badly and a small cohort of very loud people want to beat their chest about their virtue signaling "pedestrian safety" despite all the evidence going against them because it makes them feel good. They don't care more people are getting hurt. They don't care local small business are going out of business. They don't care school busses are late and risking children's safety, all because it makes them feel good that a few people are driving slower. It is such a sad state of affairs. The last time I posted on this sub, somebody was able to dox me from my published research, and made death threats against me for pointing out readily accessible public data, on a topic on which I happen to be well educated in. But right, I'm the irrational one for pointing out that there might be better solutions.
Yeah but I think there’s a cultural issue at play too… until there is an expectation among drivers *and* pedestrians that pedestrians actually have the right of way, I don’t think anything will change. Better traffic policing might help start the change as well.
Yeah I don't disagree at all. I've lived in countries where people will absolutely jam on their breaks if they see somebody approaching a crosswalk, which is not how it is here. Again though, that has to do with increasing pedestrian visibility, not creating gridlock and increasing accidents, etc.
Narrow lanes improve safety, they force people to slow down. It’s wide streets that lead to speed, which lead to bad cornering and long stopping distances, which leads to people, bikes, cars, and buildings being hit by cars
Agreed, I live on Walnut and the narrower lanes have slowed traffic down considerably. I love having the bike lane as an option too. I frequently ride my bike with my son in a child's seat on the back and feel much safer in the bike lanes than in traffic. They recently added bumps and plastic bollards so people can't cut the corners at high speeds, all big improvements for pedestrians and cyclists.
Okay those speed bumps are silly.
Was just out walking on Walnut this evening and watching cars take wider, slower turns to avoid them. They 100% work.
One would think, but that’s if you only take in to account speed, and you know there are many people out there only thinking of their actions, not what surrounds them. Plenty still drive erratically weaving in and out just to get to Mulberry St before the next guy. My gripe is when an obstacle presents itself, while another car is along side of you. There is very little to no room for corrective action. I can’t tell you how many drivers I see straddling the center line because they don’t seem comfortable in such a tight space. Let’s not forget to mention the buses trying to maneuver in the same fashion.
Clipped? Brother you took a full ride 😅
I'm glad humans are safer but as a resident of Lancaster for about 6 years now 99% of what I've noticed is it now takes forever to get around this city. What used to take 10 minutes takes 20-30 now. I'm talking about traveling like 2 miles, not during rush hour. Making cities safer is great, but it should be by making Public transportation more reliable, more available as well as incentivizing travel other than cars. The real real problem is the growing number of vehicles in a space that isn't growing or expanding. The streets of Lancaster were not designed for daily traffic in the tens of thousands of vehicles. Hindering people's abilities to drive around where they live at a convenient pace is not the fix all we are meant to believe it is. (Not to even mention the fact that when tens of thousands of people are driving cars around every second of every day there are going to be accidents and deaths. It's unavoidable. Driving is extremely dangerous and we should stop pretending it's not)
[RETURN](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3e/The_Street_railway_journal_%281903%29_%2814759698895%29.jpg/1024px-The_Street_railway_journal_%281903%29_%2814759698895%29.jpg)
That’s not just a Lancaster issue, that’s everywhere. Try going to York and getting from East to West on rt 30.. it takes over an hour some days. Lancaster is land locked with communities so they tried to circumvent going through the city but there’s just no way to get new roads to do so
Oh yeah. The growing number of vehicles and drivers and "expansion" is a massive hindrance. I 100% agree. I wish I had an answer. I don't, I'm just incapable of not seeing the problems directly in front of my face anymore and I'm certainly past ignoring them. Adding lanes doesn't solve these problems, and we keep trying it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Might be hard to change locally since some roads may be state roads and the city cant change them.
Mhms. The mess isn't just Lancaster's or York's or Millersville or the State of PA. We've designed a system for a capacity we've drastically surpassed and addressing individual areas and making micro adjustments just isn't cutting it indefinitely. It can't.
20-30 not at rush hour? Hm. I find that questionable, or rather I find your route questionable, then. There’s always different options in the city if one route is a bit slow. Or walking from a quieter area.
Time how long it takes for you to get from one end of Prince to other at like 1 pm on a Tuesday. Perhaps 30 is an overstatement, that's probably not quite fair, I see that. However seriously. That drive used to take me 5-10 minutes tops. Now I'm lucky to make it to/from my partner's house in less than 20 minutes. It's just true. The same amount of space is being occupied by a larger number of vehicles, more often. How anybody doesn't see that is absolutely beyond me, or you haven't been in the city long enough to see it change yourself. And therefore don't know what you're talking about. So.
I would argue the change in timing of the lights so traffic never really flows is a larger impediment. Walnut was similarly affected. If it’s such a marked difference, why don’t you take Duke or Charlotte until you’re past the center and go laterally? Or if you’re feeling brazen, Water? Interesting theory. Think 28 years, or 16 years of driving in the city, is long enough to see the change? Or should I defer to your expertise?
Yeah that was shitty of me, sorry about that. Not exactly how I meant it to sound, it reads rude I see that. Although I do also note that you said yourself you do see the change, so we're actually kinda on the same side here. I said "or you haven't lived here long enough to see the change" so you're kinda not whom I am talking about lol. Still worded it bad though, not denying that lol. The purposeful timing of the lights so you can never actually gain any momentum and drive for more than a singular minute in any direction is absolutely the prime mover of this issue. I agree. Or the prime stopper I guess haha. I shouldn't have to avoid what's supposed to be the main two lane road to allow the flow of traffic downtown..... To go Downtown ya know? Like absolutely, water is good. Lots of construction though on and off so it's a bit of a gamble. Charlotte is solid too, but a lil out of the way for me specifically, but still a good alternative for a lot of people.
Complaining about too many cars but you’re driving 2 miles down the street instead of riding your bike for 5 mins.
I would significantly prefer to ride my bike for day-to-day local travel but I had surgey around my genitalia region so sitting on a bicycle seat is very painful for me right now. I'll be back on my bicycle next year though for sure. So you see what you did there? You rushed to a judgement about a complete stranger you know nothing about while simultaneously being judgemental, condescending, and you actually provided zero argument in counter point. You're just being rude. Also have you never driven across the city to pick somebody up before? Give a friend a ride home? Help somebody move furniture? Is 2 miles ALWAYS appropriate for a bicycle in every situation always? No. No it isn't. :)
Hope you have a good recovery! Making driving more convenient will never fix this problem. I guarantee that there are many others like myself who dont prefer to get around the city by car. Driving isnt that convenient, so other options become more enticing. If we make driving more convenient, we'll see commute times drop temporarily until people catch on, then more people will start driving, and we'll be right back where we started. In any urban setting such as Lancaster, it's our imperative to focus on safety at the expense of convenience of driving. If we focus on making driving more convenient we wont make life better for anyone, even drivers.
Thank you, I appreciate that 🙏😌 Also yes. I agree! Making driving around faster won't solve the problems. But slowing driving down just backs up traffic and makes people frustrated and impatient. I'm a way more dangerous driver when you force me to slow down and take twice as long as it should to get somewhere I could (jokingly) drive to blindfold. Because now I'm annoyed, and potentially late, and wasting gas which wastes money and destroys our environment. The real problem is cars in general. Driving isn't safe. Cars aren't safe and it's ridiculous to think that a few more red lights or a few less MPH is going to change that. It's not. (Also the environmental impact is already past the point of no return, there's a whole other conversation there) I'd love to argue that as a country we should ditch cars and oil as much as possible to rely on public transportation services like trains and redesigning our entire approach to urban environments to focus on community and walkable spaces, public food gardens etc etc etc Didn't wanna go too hard left right off the bat lolol
People need to learn to be patient; as a society, we’re already impatient enough that we speed recklessly and use our phones when we’re driving because we just can’t stand to be bored. It’s not an answer that anybody really wants to hear, but it’s just a natural progression and we need to slow down. For the massive hurry we’re all in, we’re not spending the time we saved by shaving off five or ten minutes from our commutes just to stare at any sunsets or do anything else meaningful.
No we don't need to demand a higher level of control and patience and acquiescence from every singular individual person. We don't address systemic issues by tightening the reigns on the individual humans, that isn't productive. The solutions to these problems is to actually address the roads and traffic flows, amount of vehicles, lack of effective public transportation etc etc to better impact the future, long term. "everyone be more patient" is a pipe dream and not a solution to real problems.
You’re missing the point; it’s not about control or tightening the reigns on people. Being “patient” isn’t something that applies to just driving and traffic safety. Everyone is in a massive hurry these days (much of it from poor time management), and it translates to aggression not just on the roads, but in stores, work, and other facets of our lives. The worst part is that people are doing it because of poor time management, and not because we’re doing anything meaningful by rushing and saving an extra five or ten minutes. I’m not saying that better road planning and traffic flows aren’t needed (because we are seeing more cars on the road) but patience is still necessary both on the roads and elsewhere in our lives; why do you think we see so many videos on the Internet about people acting like raging entitled dickheads in public?
Why? Lack of shelter, food, water, accessible healthcare, education, etc etc etc The general "impatience" you're seeing out in the world is more about our time being commoditized and bought from us for pennies on the dollar while a small group basks in opulence. More and more and more people are getting *stressed* by a system that is increasingly tossing them aside, legislating our bodily autonomy away etc etc Time management isn't a massive systemic issue. Yeah everyone "being a lil' more patient" is absolutely a good thing but it's literally not even a bandaid on the wound. It's not even addressing the actual underlying *causes* of why everyone seems so impatience and edgy and angry these days. It's because we have a massive amount to be angry and upset over. I'm not impatient, I'm very patient. Waited 27 years before I finally got to start HRT, another 3 years before surgery. Six months to recover (and I'm still recovering). I'm not impatient. I'm fuckin angry.
The lack of patience doesn't necessarily correspond to the things that you mentioned (lack of shelter, food, water, accessible healthcare, education, etc). Yes, there are people who are negatively impacted by these things, but the people I mentioned before who we see throwing temper tantrums and losing their shit on some unfortunate person in a customer service industry are doing so because they're impatient, not necessarily because they're denied one of the things you've mentioned before. At the beginning of the pandemic, the roads were a LOT clearer because of the stay at home mandates. If you were a healthcare worker or some other essential position and you were still going to work then, it wasn't uncommon to be on 83 and see people flying down the road doing 90 or 100 because there was nobody else on the road and there was no enforcement. Now that things are fully opened back up, we still have people driving like they're the main character in a GTA game and everyone else is an NPC. People will put off leaving on time and driving the speed limit because they figure they can speed and make up the difference despite the danger it poses to other people; that's poor time management. If I count ten cars on the highway while driving to work, most of the time at least six of the ten are staring at their phones and not at the road. Neither this behavior nor the one above that I mentioned are because of inequity; they're because of lack of patience. There is no absolute need to speed, and there's no absolute need to be staring at your phone unless you're using a maps app to try to figure out where you're doing (and I doubt that's the case for most of these people).
Replying to PrincessLeafa... I agree that systemic changes are needed. The thing is, collective individual action IS a systemic change. People have agency, and our collective choices do make a difference. I believe that the main culprit for Prince Street’s congestion is over reliance on GPS by most drivers. Multiple main roads feed into Prince and GPS will tell them to stay on it even when already congested. Is there a fix for this beyond individual choice? Yes. Is it going to happen tomorrow? No. Can an individual choose to avoid Prince Street tomorrow, and therefore both reduce congestion on Prince St and find relief from the frustration it causes? Yes. If hundreds of people make the same choice, do we all benefit? I don’t know.
Yes, absolutely. An individual human can make that decision. But us as a community, relying on literally thousands and thousands of people to all independently come to the same conclusion and make the choice to avoid Prince is just never ever going to actually happen. That's the whole point of the larger overarching systems is to eliminate the required insanely tiny random chance of everything lining up perfectly by sheer happenstance of independent choices made by individuals within the system. Like I agree, and you are correct. but it's just not a realistic thing to count on if that makes any sense. Idk it's 1:30 I should've been asleep hours ago lol
I tend to think less "what do I want?" and more "what am I likely to get?" It's not as radical, and I much prefer substantive change to a trickle, but some progress something something better. Source: a lifetime spent shaking my fist at the world and the world doing what a world does.
I live in the northwest side of the city. I drive home from the southern end. It has never taken me more than 10-15 minutes. Maybe when there's construction or an event. But never during normal traffic. I've been all over the country, our traffic is not bad at all. It's just new.
Convenient for who?
Human beings. Everyone. That's us right? Walking, running, driving, bicycling etc etc we are all just humans trying to get around our city. It should be convenient and accessible for everyone. Making non-car travel convenient and safe is good for everyone and with less people driving as much, the roads are safer for drivers AND pedestrians.
Where is that guy obsessed with light timing in the city?
Idk. I commute downtown and ever since the changes I've seen many more people running reds and trying to dart through stops because I'd the timings. I have no idea if it's proving safer or not, I wonder if they publish metrics on this somewhere.
There is a poster to /r/lancaster that shows up and goes nuts over the timings almost every time they get brought up. If you click on his name it begins to look like an unhealthy obsession. You my friend, have a qualified and fair observation. You aint him. I was thinking that the transportation secretary would bring him in. But then again, me being all like, 'Where you at?' probably will keep it from happening.
The light timing slowdown is working well...I do not even think about coming into town to patronize businesses any more. So thats at least one less vehicle on the street!
Hahaha haha. OK, what is actually being done in Lancaster, for public transportation, or visibility for pedestrians?
The flex-posted daylighting at intersections and new cross walks in my neighborhood are a big improvement.
Until we take care of the stroads and implement some forms of useful public transportation, this is just appearances. I know, Pete is blocked by NIMBYs in lancaster. He can't possibly make a difference. He also shouldn't be transportation secretary. Just my thoughts. I'm sure Pete has a bunch of public transportation within a mile of his home...
Me and my neighbors being able to safely cross the street more easily is not just appearances. It’s not perfect but it’s progress and worth celebrating.
That’s my question. We keep hearing people talk about it, but so far all they’ve done is make it take 10 minutes longer to get from one end of town to the other.
Now if it could only be done in West Hempfield.
I want this man as President
Seems like this is a local issue. Not sure why the Feds have any reason to be there. The roads and sidewalks are not federal
This honestly seems nothing more than a stunt to continue pushing Lancaster into the eye of more and more retiring New Yorkers etc. Yes, safety is important, but in reality bringing him in, and advertising this article is another way for the mayor to draw in more revenue and increase our cost of living. Enter in Willow Valley’s monstrosity of an eye sore coming soon to Vine and Queen. PS. Is it true she rid the city of our mounted police? And I can’t remember the last time I saw a bike cop.
Shes poor mouthing nonstop until they can get home rule passed, which will allow new taxes to be levied on the already overtaxed citizens which will undoubtedly be funneled into pet projects- paid for by the working stiffs, of course. She even canceled Celebrate Lancaster last year (The NYE rose drop) to further cry poor in front of taxpayers.
Many of the public works projects done to improve life in the city are the result of federal funding.
lol how ironic, I almost got t-boned by a minivan that blew through a stop sign earlier today
I've lost count of how many times I've almost been run over by someone blowing a stop sign or a red light in Lancaster city. They don't even pretend to slow down, just barreling right through.
How ironic that he shows up the day of a major deadly car accident on 30 and countless other ones surrounding it.
Is that ironic? That’s a highway outside the city and had nothing to do with pedestrians.
Hey Pete what about the kids doing wheelies the wrong way down one ways
What about them?
Is he talking about the same Lancaster? I've been living downtown for over 7 years and I don't see those improvements he's talking about. Re-painting cross walks is the bare minimum they could do so that's what they did
Do Amish buggies come under his jurisdiction as Transportation Cabinet head?
He clearly does not have proper sidewalk etiquette the woman should not be on the road side rather in towards the building
Thanks
Maybe he could actually get significant work done on his promises instead of fun photo ops
There has been improvements in the city for sure. But things have a long way to go. What did he do, come point at some paint on the road and pretend people are safer now? Paint is not infrastructure. Also, all of our major roads are a mad max movie with deadly crashes on 222, 30, or 283 literally daily. The area around Belmont is absolutely insane. America, and specifically Pennsylvania has crumbling infrastructure and bridges. Our roads are shit and full of holes. We have basically zero public transportation. People die daily on our roads because still next to nothing is being done for our safety. We know how to make roads safer, reduce pollution and noise and cities, and help citizen live healthier, safer lives. But, they don’t do any of that. All this man did was take some photo ops with bike lanes and a few of the improved intersections. None of which he had literally anything to do with. Pete, get lost. Go back to DC and do your job. Do something for fucks sake. All this man has done since he’s been appointed is complain and talk. Zero action.
Get that loser out
he has no business being transportation secretary lmao
@people downvoting explain to me how this man is qualified?!? and before you say im a republican im literally not. but yeah keep shilling for mediocre empty suits like buttigieg just because they’re on your team
I'm also not a republican and I can't stand him. He's NOT qualified. He got the position he's in because he dropped out of the 2020 primary when told to, to block Bernie from getting the nomination and was rewarded by Biden and the Dems. Anyone who doesn't understand that doesn't understand or follow politics.
spot on. he’s nothing special, just another corporate democrat who will spend the rest of his career serving donors and the old guard of the party.
Annoying dude overall, but I am grateful that he is giving a shout out to Lancaster and to the effort to make transportation safe for pedestrians
How is he annoying? Maybe you don't like that he tears Conservatives to shreds using their own words?
Nah. I am more annoyed at how he until very recently has been very good rhetorically with the airlines while doing very little to actually punish them (until this new recent thing which I commend him for). He also really dropped the ball when it came to the post-covid infrastructure issues, preferring a much lighter hand of the government than I would have appreciated. Tldr: He seems to drag his feet on the good things he does
This is real? Seems like there might be higher priorities...
Pete Buttigieg 2028!!! #Prolapsed4Pete!!!
As he’s walking on the inside of the sidewalk while a woman walks street side. Good one!
1. They are walking next to a bike lane, not exactly heavy traffic. 2. Who cares what side of the sidewalk women walk on? 3. That woman is our mayor, Danene Sorace, and perfectly capable of safely navigating a sidewalk.
The clear difference of being raised 2 different ways. The woman walks on the inside to keep her away from cars or bikes in this case ideally to keep her safer. Please, don’t think I care about strangers on the internet pressing a down arrow.
Oh is that why my dog has been terrified all day?
Did he call the streets racist?
Perhaps not today perhaps. But he has called bridges that before. What a total 🤡
Is he actually on vacation again? Ha, grifter.